


You're My Critical Point

by perigeecoffee



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Accidental Confession, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tutoring, jisung is bad at math, there is a mean professor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26551468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perigeecoffee/pseuds/perigeecoffee
Summary: Han Jisung is currently doing very badly in his calculus class. Enter university tutor Kim Seungmin, who teaches him both how to find the derivative of a function and how to stay true to himself."As Seungmin looked over Jisung’s paper, marking the correct answers with a glittery purple pen, he seemed to think of something.“Hey, I’ll make a deal with you,” Seungmin smirked at him.Jisung raised his eyebrows. “What kind of a deal?” He asked.“If you get an A on your calculus test next week, I’ll go on a date with you.”"
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 131





	You're My Critical Point

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This was written for the SKZ Ship Bingo for the Accidental/Almost Kiss/Confession and Hurt/Comfort squares!!
> 
> Just a quick note, Jisung has an anxiety attack after his professor is mean to him. If you want to skip it, it starts at "That class couldn’t end fast enough." and ends at "“Are you feeling better?”
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Jisung was not good at math. 

Okay that was probably an understatement. Jisung was terrible at math. 

Math just never clicked. In middle and high school he managed to get by with B’s and the occasional C. He could never focus on the problems, never understood what to do with the numbers, and forgot all the formulas he was supposed to memorize. 

Jisung didn’t have this problem with other subjects though. He could write a full length paper in less than a day, compose music while eating at the dining hall, write out sets of lyrics in minutes, and talk endlessly about space to anyone who would listen. He just couldn’t do math. If an equation was put in front of him, it was like his brain would just shut off. 

He survived though. Through endless reviewing, tutoring, extra credit, and the occasional formula hidden under a bracelet before a test. He survived, that is, until university. 

He made the mistake of double majoring in Physics and Music Composition. The music was for himself, his dream, what he wanted to do. The physics was to satisfy his parents and teachers, who wanted him to have a “bright future” because “he shouldn’t waste his time on something like music.” 

Instead of letting them win, he decided he could handle both. It would be fine! All he had to do was take a full course load every semester for four years. 

Easy enough, right?

* * *

It was not easy. 

Calculus was something straight out of Jisung’s worst nightmare. His brain absolutely refused to understand any of the theorems and he would spend hours on homework and only solve a few of the equations on the sheet. It didn’t help that his professor moved so quickly through the material that Jisung was perpetually a week behind in content. 

And because Jisung was so slow when doing his calculus homework, he either had to rush through the rest of his homework or forgo it altogether. His grades in his formerly ‘easy’ classes, like literature and music theory, were now in danger. 

Jisung desperately needed help. He worked up the nerve to start going to the university library’s peer tutoring hours, hoping that someone there would be able to explain how to find the derivative of a function in a way that didn’t make Jisung want to cry.  
He spent the first few sessions being frustrated nearly to tears. The girl who was his tutor for the day put her pencil down and sighed after having gone through the same equation once again without Jisung understanding what she was doing. He eventually packed up his stuff and left, resolving to try to find a way to learn the material himself. 

When his attempts to learn calculus through youtube videos, “calculus for dummies,” and sleeping on his textbook all failed, he found himself once again in the library’s tutoring center. 

He made an attempt at a smile at the woman working the front desk. It was probably more a grimace, if her pitying look was any indication. 

Jisung entered the usual math tutoring room, but his tutor from last time, upon seeing him, got up and told him that they would be trying something different this time. She gestured for him to go into a different room than usual, and Jisung gave her a confused look before obediently opening the door and going in. It was a smaller, quieter room with only a few people inside. One boy, sitting alone at a table, looked up as Jisung entered and waved at him. 

“Are you Han Jisung?” He asked, getting up from his seat. Jisung nodded in response. The boy had fluffy brown hair and warm eyes. 

“Great! I’m Kim Seungmin,” the pretty boy, Seungmin, said brightly. He gestured for Jisung to come join him at the table, and Jisung pulled out a chair before carefully sitting down.

* * *

Seungmin had to be some kind of math wizard. Within an hour, he had explained one of the concepts Jisung struggled with in a way that made sense to him. Jisung stared at his notebook in awe. 

“Are you even real?” He mumbled, looking between Seungmin’s face and his notebook, where all of his equations were correctly and neatly solved.  
Seungmin pinched his own arm, “Yeah I’m pretty sure I’m real!” He giggled. 

Jisung flushed, realizing that he had said that out loud. “I- uh, I didn’t mean-” he stammered.

“It’s okay,” Seungmin cut him off, “ I think you’re cute when you’re flustered.”

Jisung stared at him, dumbly, willing his brain to work and not shut down at the sight of a pretty boy calling him cute.

* * *

Jisung kept visiting the tutoring center, now spending the hour relaxing with Seungmin instead of being stressed to his breaking point. The two got along well, Seungmin was an education major who made a point of tutoring as “practice” for when he had students to teach. 

“So am I just a guinea pig for you to experiment on with your teaching?” Jisung asked indignantly. 

“No, actually you much more closely resemble a squirrel,” Seungmin informed him in a monotone voice. 

Jisung tossed an eraser at him for that. 

Despite the good-natured teasing, he truly enjoyed spending time with Seungmin. The two had established a fun dynamic. Seungmin was extremely patient with Jisung, never belittling him or laughing at him when he made a mistake like some of his professors did. Seungmin praised him for how hard he worked, before gently showing Jisung where he had made a mistake. 

Jisung also was able to help Seungmin. One day Seungmin came into the tutoring room 4 minutes late, looking extremely stressed. Jisung looked up at him worriedly. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Because I’m a choral performance minor I’m part of the university show choir and I’m one of the group leaders. We had a rehearsal earlier today but it was a disaster. We were supposed to get our music for the next show today to start rehearsing for the next show but everyone thought that someone else was in charge of getting the music and now we don’t have anything. It’s too late to go through the process of getting permission from a composer to use their sheet music, so we’re going to have to find someone to arrange the parts and compose the piece in less than a week.” Seungmin put his head in his hands when he finished talking, inhaling deeply. 

Jisung looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully. “You just need a piece arranged for performance by a choir, right?” 

“Yeah,” Seungmin mumbled through his hands.

“Send me the piece you want arranged, I can have it back to you in a few days.” 

Seungmin raised his head to look at Jisung, shocked. “Seriously?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yep! I’m not a music composition major for nothing.” Jisung said, already running through ways to arrange the piece in his head. 

Seungmin smiled at him. “Thank you so much, Jisung. I really owe you for this,” he said. 

Jisung smiled back, and handed Seungmin the practice problems he had completed that last week.

* * *

Jisung had been cramming in preparation of his upcoming test in calculus. It was going pretty well, he and Seungmin had carefully gone over almost all the concepts that would be on the test. Jisung put down his pencil as he finished the last practice problem on the page, before handing the paper to Seungmin. 

As he looked over Jisung’s paper, marking the correct answers with a glittery purple pen, he seemed to think of something. 

“Hey, I’ll make a deal with you,” Seungmin smirked at him. 

Jisung raised his eyebrows. “What kind of a deal?” He asked. 

“If you get an A on your calculus test next week, I’ll go on a date with you.” Seungmin offered, narrowing his eyes playfully. 

Jisung agreed, turning to look at the paper, now covered in purple glitter, and down at his notebook, which was outlined with study methods and step-by-step solutions to the problems. 

He could do it.

* * *

He could not do it. 

His professor introduced a new concept in class that would be on the quiz and Jisung was once again lost. Everyone else in the class seemed to know exactly what was happening. No one else was struggling like he was. 

It certainly didn’t help that his professor zeroed in on his confusion, singling Jisung out by asking him a question about the example equation on the board. Jisung just stared blankly, internally panicking. His professor made a biting remark about some students just weren’t cut out for his class, before turning back to the board and calling on another student. Jisung could feel everyone’s eyes still on him, he put his head down and willed himself not to cry. 

That class couldn’t end fast enough. Jisung found himself racing out of the room at exactly 1:15. He only made it to the staircase before his face crumpled. Taking the stairs down two at a time, he made it downstairs before making a beeline for the bathroom. 

Closing the door behind him, he let himself sink to the ground. He never should have tried to take this calculus course, he really wasn’t cut out to be a STEM major, he would end up failing this class and disappointing everyone who wanted him to major in physics. He felt his breathing quicken as he realized that this was what he had been trying so hard to avoid. He never wanted to major in physics, he just wanted to make his parents and teachers happy. They weren’t happy with his music. And now he was really going to disappoint them. 

“Jisung,” A voice startled him out of his thoughts. “Can you take a deep breath in?”

Jisung shook his head, his entire chest felt so tight. There was no way he could take a deep breath when he was struggling for air like this. 

He heard the voice again. “Can I touch your hand?” 

Jisung nodded, and felt as long fingers wrapped around his wrist. His hand was placed against something warm and solid. Seungmin’s chest.

“Follow what I do and try to copy me. Breathe in and count to seven, then hold for four, then breathe out and count to eight.” 

Jisung felt the chest under his hand expand, and he tried his best to follow along. After a couple minutes his breathing had evened out and he was no longer hyperventilating. He felt exhausted, letting his head tilt back against the wall. He noticed Seungmin’s face come into focus as he took in his surroundings. 

“Are you feeling better?” Seungmin asked, still holding Jisung’s hand. 

Jisung nodded in response, attempting to get up from the floor. Seungmin got up quickly and helped pull Jisung up by his hand. Jisung let himself get pulled up and into a tight hug. Jisung felt safe, Seungmin’s arms were warm and he rubbed soothing circles into Jisungs back. Now that he had calmed down, he noticed just how tired he felt. 

“Can I get you anything? I can walk you back to your dorm?” Seungmin offered. 

Jisung thought for a moment. He hadn’t eaten in a while and he was pretty hungry, but the bone-deep exhaustion that settled over him seemed to make the decision for him. 

“Dorm,” Jisung answered, mumbling his building and room number to Seungmin. 

They walked together to Jisung’s dorm room. His roommate last semester was now studying abroad this semester, so he was alone in the room. He kept the room neat and clean, otherwise he would never be able to find anything. Jisung pulled Seungmin into the room, quickly letting go of his hand in order to make a comfy nest of blankets. He sat down in the blankets, and gestured for Seungmin to join him. 

“When was the last time you ate? Do you have any food or water in here?” Seungmin asked, looking towards the mini-fridge in the corner. 

“I can’t remember,” Jisung replied. “There should be something in there, though.” 

Seungmin opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, handing it to Jisung. Aside from the water bottle, the fridge was practically empty. 

Jisung looked at Seungmin sheepishly. He hadn’t realized how low his snack supply had gotten, and he was way too tired to go walk to a dining hall. Seungmin seemed to realize this, and he asked Jisung to wait for just a moment as he grabbed his phone. 

Jisung curled back into the blankets, the warm lighting of the room relaxing him further. Seungmin finished typing on his phone and reached for his bag, pulling out his laptop and setting up a nature documentary for them to watch. 

Just as they were learning about the smallest cat in the world, Seungmin’s phone chimed and he glanced at it before excusing himself for a moment, telling Jisung that he would be right back. Jisung watched the door, a confused expression on his face as he waited to see what Seungmin had done. The door opened again a few moments later, and Seungmin came back holding a large bag. 

He cleared a space between them and set the bag down, pulling out two orders of food. It was Jisung’s favorite, something he had mentioned a few weeks back and thought Seungmin had forgotten about.

“Please marry me,” Jisung whispered in shock.

Seungmin grinned at him. “At least take me to dinner first,” he replied laughing. 

Jisung blushed, eating the food to prevent himself from saying anything else embarrassing. 

“You really do look like a squirrel,” Seungmin said, poking Jisung’s cheek before turning to his own food and starting to eat. 

After they had both finished, Seungmin turned to look at Jisung. 

“Do you wanna talk about earlier?” 

Jisung sighed. He might as well tell Seungmin. 

He launched into the story of what happened in his calculus class, noticing as Seungmin looked upset as he explained what the professor had said to him. 

“That professor had no right to say that,” Seungmin said angrily. 

“It’s okay. I’m used to it,” Jisung replied, trying to placate him. 

“That’s even worse. Do you need the calculus credit? Or can you drop the class? Because if you can, you need to drop that class. The environment there is not conducive to learning, you’ll only continue to struggle with a professor who doesn’t care.” 

“I need the credit for my major.” 

Seungmin looked at him quizzically. “There’s no math requirement for music majors, is there?”

“I’m not just a music composition major, I’m also majoring in physics,” Jisung explained sadly. 

“Do you enjoy physics? If you drop this class you probably won’t be able to complete the physics major but you don’t need the double major to do well, you’re so talented with music. You should only continue if you truly love physics.”

Jisung took a deep breath before giving his usual response, “A double major in physics and music composition is a good plan because it allows me to enjoy my hobby of music while also providing a stable career path in physics.”

“Are you only doing physics because you were told you wouldn’t be able to make money with music composition?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”  
“Jisung, it’s your life. You shouldn’t have to endure 4 years of crammed schedules, long days, and classes you dislike just to make other people happy. You are so talented and hard-working and you will do well in music. You should do what you want.”

Jisung realized that Seungmin was right, he wasn’t gonna get anywhere by trying to please other people constantly. He wasn’t going to be a physicist and that was okay. 

“Drop the calculus class tomorrow? You don’t need the extra stress and you can focus on your music,” Seungmin offered. 

“But if I drop my calculus class before the test then how will I get that date with you?” Jisung asked, with big eyes.

“Get an A on your next music composition assignment and I’ll be your boyfriend.” 

“Deal,” Jisung replied.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired greatly by my own experience at university last year lmao. If you relate, just know that you are not alone! I hope you all liked it, feel free to leave a comment! You can also find me on twitter as @inniekitty!


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